Transcript
  • UNCLE VANYA

    WEBSTER'S CHINESE SIMPLIFIED

    THESAURUS EDITION

    for ESL, EFL, ELP, TOEFL

    , TOEIC

    , and AP

    Test Preparation

    Anton Chekhov

    TOEFL, TOEIC, AP and Advanced Placement are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which has

    neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.

  • TOEFL, TOEIC, AP and Advanced Placement are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which

    has neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.

    Uncle Vanya

    Webster's Chinese Simplified

    Thesaurus Edition

    for ESL, EFL, ELP, TOEFL, TOEIC, and AP Test

    Preparation

    Anton Chekhov

  • ii

    I C O N C L A S S I C S

    Published by ICON Group International, Inc. 7404 Trade Street

    San Diego, CA 92121 USA

    www.icongrouponline.com

    Uncle Vanya: Webster's Chinese Simplified Thesaurus Edition for ESL, EFL, ELP, TOEFL, TOEIC, and AP Test Preparation

    This edition published by ICON Classics in 2005

    Printed in the United States of America.

    Copyright 2005 by ICON Group International, Inc. Edited by Philip M. Parker, Ph.D. (INSEAD); Copyright 2005, all rights reserved.

    All rights reserved. This book is protected by copyright. No part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Copying our publications in whole or in part, for whatever reason, is a violation of copyright laws and can lead to penalties and fines. Should you want to copy tables, graphs, or other materials, please contact us to request permission (E-mail: [email protected]). ICON Group often grants permission for very limited reproduction of our publications for internal use, press releases, and academic research. Such reproduction requires confirmed permission from ICON Group International, Inc.

    TOEFL, TOEIC, AP and Advanced Placement are trademarks of the Educational Testing

    Service which has neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.

    ISBN 0-497-25973-7

    mailto:[email protected]

  • iii

    Contents

    PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR........................................................................................ 1

    PERSONS REPRESENTED .............................................................................................. 2

    ACT I .............................................................................................................................. 3

    ACT II ........................................................................................................................... 19

    ACT III .......................................................................................................................... 39

    ACT IV .......................................................................................................................... 59

    GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................... 74

  • Anton Chekhov 1

    PREFACE FRO M TH E ED ITO R

    Websters paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently assigned readings in

    English courses. By using a running English-to-Chinese Simplified thesaurus at the bottom of each

    page, this edition of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov was edited for three audiences. The first

    includes Chinese Simplified-speaking students enrolled in an English Language Program (ELP), an

    English as a Foreign Language (EFL) program, an English as a Second Language Program (ESL),

    or in a TOEFL or TOEIC preparation program. The second audience includes English-speaking

    students enrolled in bilingual education programs or Chinese Simplified speakers enrolled in

    English speaking schools. The third audience consists of students who are actively building their

    vocabularies in Chinese Simplified in order to take foreign service, translation certification,

    Advanced Placement (AP)1 or similar examinations. By using the Webster's Chinese Simplified

    Thesaurus Edition when assigned for an English course, the reader can enrich their vocabulary in

    anticipation of an examination in Chinese Simplified or English.

    Websters edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of

    difficult and potentially ambiguous English words. Rare or idiosyncratic words and expressions are

    given lower priority compared to difficult, yet commonly used words. Rather than supply a single

    translation, many words are translated for a variety of meanings in Chinese Simplified, allowing

    readers to better grasp the ambiguity of English, and avoid them using the notes as a pure

    translation crutch. Having the reader decipher a words meaning within context serves to improve

    vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not already highlighted on

    previous pages. If a difficult word is not translated on a page, chances are that it has been translated

    on a previous page. A more complete glossary of translations is supplied at the end of the book;

    translations are extracted from Websters Online Dictionary.

    Definitions of remaining terms as well as translations can be found at www.websters-online-

    dictionary.org. Please send suggestions to [email protected]

    The Editor

    Websters Online Dictionary www.websters-online-dictionary.org

    1 TOEFL, TOEIC, AP and Advanced Placement are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which

    has neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.

    http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/

  • Uncle Vanya 2

    PERSO NS % REPRESENTED

    ALEXANDER SEREBRAKOFF, a retired professor

    HELENA, his wife, twenty-seven years old

    SONIA, his daughter by a former marriage

    MME. VOITSKAYA, widow of a privy councilor, and mother of Serebrakoff's first wife

    IVAN (VANYA) VOITSKI, her son

    MICHAEL ASTROFF, a doctor

    ILIA (WAFFLES) TELEGIN, an impoverished landowner

    MARINA, an old nurse

    A WORKMAN

    The SCENE is laid on SEREBRAKOFF'S country place

    Chinese Simplified

    daughter,,

    doctor,,,

    former,,,,

    ,

    impoverished,

    laid

    landowner

    marriage,,

    nurse,,

    privy

    professor

    retired,

    son

    twenty-seven

    widow

    wife,,,,

    ,

  • Anton Chekhov 3

    A C T I

    [A%country house on a terrace. In front of it a garden. In an avenue of trees, under an old poplar, stands a table set for tea, with a samovar, etc. Some benches and chairs stand near the table. On one of them is lying a guitar. A hammock is swung near the table. It is three o'clock in the afternoon of a cloudy day.]

    [MARINA, a quiet, grey-haired, little old woman, is sitting at the table knitting a stocking.]

    [ASTROFF is walking up and down near her.]

    MARINA. [Pouring some tea into a glass] Take a little tea, my son.

    ASTROFF. [Takes the glass from her unwillingly] Somehow, I don't seem to want any.

    MARINA. Then will you have a little vodka instead?

    ASTROFF. No, I don't drink vodka every day, and besides, it is too hot now. [A pause] Tell me, nurse, how lo ng have we known each other?

    Chinese Simplified

    afternoon,

    avenue,3

    besides,,,,

    121,

    chairs

    cloudy

    drink,,,

    etc,,,,,

    ,,,,,

    front,,,,

    garden

    glass,

    guitar

    hammock

    hot

    instead,

    knitting

    lying147

    marina

    pause,

    poplar,

    quiet,,,,

    ,

    samovar

    sitting,

    swung

    tea,

    terrace,,,

    trees

    vodka

    walking,

  • Uncle Vanya 4

    MARINA. [Thoughtfully] Let me see, how long is it? Lord--help me to remember. You first came here, into our parts--let me think--when was it? Sonia's mother was still alive--it was two winters before she died; that was eleven years ago--[thoughtfully] perhaps more.%

    ASTROFF. Have I changed much since then?

    MARINA. Oh, yes. You were handsome and young then, and now you are an old man and not handsome any more. You drink, too.

    ASTROFF. Yes, ten years have made me another man. And why? Because I am overworked. Nurse, I am on my feet from dawn till dusk. I know no rest; at night I tremble under my blankets for fear of being dragged out to visit some one who is sick; I have toiled without repose or a day's freedom since I have known you; could I help growing old? And then, existence is tedious, anyway; it is a senseless, dirty business, this life, and goes heavily. Every one about here is silly, and after living with them for two or three years one grows silly oneself. It is inevitable. [Twisting his moustache] See what a long moustache I have grown. A foolish, long moustache. Yes, I am as silly as the rest, nurse, but not as stupid; no, I have not grown stupid. Thank God, my brain is not addled yet, though my feelings have grown numb. I ask nothing, I need nothing, I love no one, unless it is yourself alone. [He kisses her head] I had a nurse just like you when I was a child.

    MARINA. Don't you want a bite of something to eat?

    ASTROFF. No. During the third week of Lent I went to the epidemic at Malitskoi. It was eruptive typhoid. The peasants were all lying side by side in their huts, and the calves and pigs were running about the floor among the sick. Such dirt there was, and smoke! Unspeakable! I slaved among those people all day,

    Chinese Simplified

    bite,,

    blankets

    dawn

    dirt

    dirty,,,

    dragged,

    dusk,,

    eleven

    epidemic,

    foolish

    grows

    handsome,,

    huts

    inevitable,

    kisses

    numb,

    oneself,,,,

    overworked,

    peasants

    pigs

    senseless'96,

    sick

    silly,,,,

    stupid,,

    tedious,

    tremble,

    twisting,

    typhoid

    unspeakable,

    114

    winters

  • Anton Chekhov 5

    not a crumb passed my lips, but when I got home there was still no rest for me; a switchman was carried in from the railroad; I laid him on the operating table and he went and died in my arms under chloroform, and then my feelings that should have been deadened awoke again, my conscience tortured me as if I had killed the man. I sat down and closed my eyes--like this--and thought: will our descendants two hundred years from now, for whom we are breaking the road, remember to give us a kind word? No, nurse, they will forget.%

    MARINA. Man is forgetful, but God remembers.

    ASTROFF. Thank you for that. You have spoken the truth.

    [Enter VOITSKI from the house. He has been asleep after dinner and looks rather dishevelled. He sits down on the bench and straightens his collar.]

    VOITSKI. H'm. Yes. [A pause] Yes.

    ASTROFF. Have you been asleep?

    VOITSKI. Yes, very much so. [He yawns] Ever since the Professor and his wife have come, our daily life seems to have jumped the track. I sleep at the wrong time, drink wine, and eat all sorts of messes for luncheon and dinner. It isn't wholesome. Sonia and I used to work together and never had an idle moment, but now Sonia works alone and I only eat and drink and sleep. Something is wrong.

    MARINA. [Shaking her head] Such a confusion in the house! The Professor gets up at twelve, the samovar is kept boiling all the morning, and everything has to wait for him. Before they came we used to have dinner at one o'clock, like everybody else, but now we have it at seven. The Professor sits up all night

    Chinese Simplified

    alone,,,

    asleep,

    bench,

    boiling,,

    chloroformW,

    confusion,,

    conscience

    crumb

    daily,,

    dinner,

    dishevelled,

    enter,,,

    everybody,

    feelings,

    forgetful,

    idle,

    jumped

    lips

    luncheon

    messes

    railroad,

    remembers53

    sits

    sorts

    spoken12198

    switchman

    track,,,,

    ,,

    twelve

    wholesome,

    wine,,,

    yawns

  • Uncle Vanya 6

    writing and reading, and suddenly, at two o'clock, there goes the bell! Heavens, what is that? The Professor wants some tea! Wake the servants, light the samovar! Lord, what disorder!

    ASTROFF. Will they be here long?

    VOITSKI. A hundred years! The Professor has decided to make his home here.%

    MARINA. Look at this now! The samovar has been on the table for two hours, and they are all out walking!

    VOITSKI. All right, don't get excited; here they come.

    [Voices are heard approaching. SEREBRAKOFF, HELENA, SONIA, and TELEGIN come in from the depths of the garden, returning from their walk.]

    SEREBRAKOFF. Superb! Superb! What beautiful views!

    TELEGIN. They are wonderful, your Excellency.

    SONIA. To-morrow we shall go into the woods, shall we, papa?

    VOITSKI. Ladies and gentlemen, tea is ready.

    SEREBRAKOFF. Won't you please be good enough to send my tea into the library? I still have some work to finish.

    SONIA. I am sure you will love the woods.

    HELENA, SEREBRAKOFF, and SONIA go into the house. TELEGIN sits down at the table beside MARINA.

    Chinese Simplified

    approaching,,

    beautiful,,,,

    ,,,'89

    bell,

    beside

    decided

    depths,

    disorder,

    excited,,,

    finish,,,,

    gentlemen

    heavens,

    library

    light,,,,,

    ,,

    lord,,

    papa

    reading128,128

    ready,,,

    returning

    send,,,,,

    ,

    suddenly,,,,

    superb,

    views'88

    wake,'96

    wonderful,

    woods,

    writing,,,,

  • Anton Chekhov 7

    VOITSKI. There goes our learned scholar on a hot, sultry day like this, in his overcoat and goloshes and carrying an umbrella!

    ASTROFF. He is trying to take good care of his health.%

    VOITSKI. How lovely she is! How lovely! I have never in my life seen a more beautiful woman.

    TELEGIN. Do you know, Marina, that as I walk in the fields or in the shady garden, as I look at this table here, my heart swells with unbounded happiness. The weather is enchanting, the birds are singing, we are all living in peace and contentment--what more could the soul desire? [Takes a glass of tea.]

    VOITSKI. [Dreaming] Such eyes--a glorious woman!

    ASTROFF. Come, Ivan, tell us something.

    VOITSKI. [Indolently] What shall I tell you?

    ASTROFF. Haven't you any news for us?

    VOITSKI. No, it is all stale. I am just the same as usual, or perhaps worse, because I have become lazy. I don't do anything now but croak like an old raven. My mother, the old magpie, is still chattering about the emancipation of woman, with one eye on her grave and the other on her learned books, in which she is always looking for the dawn of a new life.

    ASTROFF. And the Professor?

    Chinese Simplified

    birds,,

    carrying,

    desire,,,,

    emancipation

    enchanting,,,

    eye,,

    glorious,,

    grave,,,,

    happiness,

    lazy,

    learned,,,

    lovely,

    magpie,

    overcoat

    peace

    raven,,

    scholar,,,

    shady,,,,

    singing,

    soul

    stale,

    sultry

    swells

    umbrella,

    unbounded,

    usual,,

    walk,,,,

    weather

    worse,

  • Uncle Vanya 8

    VOITSKI. % The Professor sits in his library from morning till night, as usual-- "Straining the mind, wrinkling the brow, We write, write, write, Without respite Or hope of praise in the future or now." Poor paper! He ought to write his autobiography; he would make a really splendid subject for a book! Imagine it, the life of a retired professor, as stale as a piece of hardtack, tortured by gout, headaches, and rheumatism, his liver bursting with jealousy and envy, living on the estate of his first wife, although he hates it, because he can't afford to live in town. He is everlastingly whining about his hard lot, though, as a matter of fact, he is extraordinarily lucky. He is the son of a common deacon and has attained the professor's chair, become the son-in-law of a senator, is called "your Excellency," and so on. But I'll tell you something; the man has been writing on art for twenty-five years, and he doesn't know the very first thing about it. For twenty-five years he has been chewing on other men's thoughts about realism, naturalism, and all such foolishness; for twenty-five years he has been reading and writing things that clever men have long known and stupid ones are not interested in; for twenty-five years he has been making his imaginary mountains out of molehills. And just think of the man's self-conceit and presumption all this time! For twenty-five years he has been masquerading in false clothes and has now retired absolutely unknown to any living soul; and yet see him! stalking across the earth like a demi-god!

    ASTROFF. I believe you envy him.

    VOITSKI. Yes, I do. Look at the success he has had with women! Don Juan himself was not more favoured. His first wife, who was my sister, was a beautiful, gentle being, as pure as the blue heaven there above us, noble, great-hearted, with

    Chinese Simplified

    attained

    autobiography

    bursting

    chewing

    clever,,,,

    ,,

    deacon

    envy,,

    false,,

    foolishness

    gentle,,,

    gout

    headaches

    heaven,,

    imaginary,

    jealousy,

    liver

    naturalism,,

    noble,,

    praise,,61,,

    presumption,

    pure,,,

    realism

    rheumatism,

    self-conceit

    senator51,51

    son-in-law

    splendid,,,

    ,,

    stalking

    till

  • Anton Chekhov 9

    more admirers than he has pupils, and she loved him as only beings of angelic purity can love those who are as pure and beautiful as themselves. His mother-in-law, my mother, adores him to this day, and he still inspires a sort of worshipful awe in her. His second wife is, as you see, a brilliant beauty; she married him in his old age and has surrendered all the glory of her beauty and freedom to him. Why? What for?

    ASTROFF. Is she faithful to him?

    VOITSKI. Yes, unfortunately she is.%

    ASTROFF. Why unfortunately?

    VOITSKI. Because such fidelity is false and unnatural, root and branch. It sounds well, but there is no logic in it. It is thought immoral for a woman to deceive an old husband whom she hates, but quite moral for her to strangle her poor youth in her breast and banish every vital d esire from her heart.

    TELEGIN. [In a tearful voice] Vanya, I don't like to hear you talk so. Listen, Vanya; every one who betrays husband or wife is faithless, and could also betray his country.

    VOITSKI. [Crossly] Turn off the tap, Waffles.

    TELEGIN. No, allow me, Vanya. My wife ran away with a lover on the day after our wedding, because my exterior was unprepossessing. I have never failed in my duty since then. I love her and am true to her to this day. I help her all I can and have given my fortune to educate the daughter of herself and her lover. I have forfeited my happiness, but I have kept my pride. And she? Her

    Chinese Simplified

    adores

    awe,

    banish,

    betray,

    betrays

    breast,,,

    brilliant,,,

    ,

    deceive,

    educate

    exterior,

    faithful,

    faithless,,

    fidelity95,

    fortune,,

    glory,,

    immoral,

    logic

    lover,,

    moral

    mother-in-law,

    pride,

    purity,,

    root,,

    strangle,

    tap,,,,

    ,

    tearful

    unnatural,

    wedding,,,,

    worshipful

  • Uncle Vanya 10

    youth has fled, her beauty has faded according to the laws of nature, and her lover is dead. What has she kept?

    [HELENA and SONIA come in; after them comes MME. VOITSKAYA carrying a book. She sits down and begins to read. Some one hands her a glass of tea which she drinks without looking up.]

    SONIA. [Hurriedly, to the nurse] There are some peasants waiting out there. Go and see what they want. I shall pour the tea. [Pours out some glasses of tea.]

    [MARINA goes out. HELENA takes a glass and sits drinking in the hammock.]

    ASTROFF. I have come to see your husband. You wrote me that he had rheumatism and I know not what else, and that he was very ill, but he appears to be as lively as a cricket.%

    HELENA. He had a fit of the blues yesterday evening and complained of pains in his legs, but he seems all right again to-day.

    ASTROFF. And I galloped over here twenty miles at break-neck speed! No matter, though, it is not the first time. Once here, however, I am going to stay until to-morrow, and at any rate sleep _quantum satis._

    SONIA. Oh, splendid! You so seldom spend the night with us. Have you had dinner yet?

    ASTROFF. No.

    SONIA. Good. So you will have it with us. We dine at seven now. [Drinks her tea] This tea is cold!

    Chinese Simplified

    according

    appears

    beauty,,

    begins

    cold,,,,

    dead

    dine,,

    drinking

    drinks

    evening,,,

    fit,,,

    fled

    glasses,

    goes

    husband,,

    ill,,,,

    kept

    lively,,,

    ,

    pains

    pour,,,,

    seldom,

    sleep,'96,,

    speed,,,,

    spend,,,

    stay,,

    takes,

    twenty

    waiting,

    wrote

    youth,

  • Anton Chekhov 11

    TELEGIN. Yes, the samovar has grown cold.%

    HELENA. Don't mind, Monsieur Ivan, we will drink cold tea, then.

    TELEGIN. I beg your pardon, my name is not Ivan, but Ilia, ma'am--Ilia Telegin, or Waffles, as I am sometimes called on account of my pock-marked face. I am Sonia's godfather, and his Excellency, your husband, knows me very well. I now live with you, ma'am, on this estate, and perhaps you will be so good as to notice that I dine with you every day.

    SONIA. He is our great help, our right-hand man. [Tenderly] Dear godfather, let me pour you some tea.

    MME. VOITSKAYA. Oh! Oh!

    SONIA. What is it, grandmother?

    MME. VOITSKAYA. I forgot to tell Alexander--I have lost my memory--I received a letter to-day from Paul Alexevitch in Kharkoff. He has sent me a new pamphlet.

    ASTROFF. Is it interesting?

    MME. VOITSKAYA. Yes, but strange. He refutes the very theories which he defended seven years ago. It is appalling!

    VOITSKI. There is nothing appalling about it. Drink your tea, mamma.

    MME. VOITSKAYA. It seems you never want to listen to what I have to say. Pardon me, Jean, but

    Chinese Simplified

    account,,,,

    ago,,

    appalling

    beg,,

    dine,,

    estate,,,

    forgot53

    godfather

    grandmother,

    grown

    interesting,,,

    ,

    knows

    letter,

    listen,

    live,,

    lost

    mamma

    notice,,,,

    pamphlet

    pardon,,138,,

    pour,,,,

    received

    right-hand,

    samovar

    sent

    seven

    strange,,,,

    theories63

  • Uncle Vanya 12

    you have changed so in the last year that I hardly know you. You used to be a man of settled convictions and had an illuminating personality---

    VOITSKI. Oh, yes. I had an illuminating personality, which illuminated no one. [A pause] I had an illuminating personality! You couldn't say anything more biting. I am forty-seven years old. Until last year I endeavoured, as you do now, to blind my eyes by your pedantry to the truths of life. But now--Oh, if you only knew! If you knew how I lie awake at night, heartsick and angry, to think how stupidly I have wasted my time when I might have been winning from life everything which my old age now forbids.%

    SONIA. Uncle Vanya, how dreary!

    MME. VOITSKAYA. [To her son] You speak as if your former convictions were somehow to blame, but you yourself, not they, were at fault. You have forgotten that a conviction, in itself, is nothing but a dead letter. You should have done something.

    VOITSKI. Done something! Not every man is capable of being a writer _perpetuum mobile_ like your Herr Professor.

    MME. VOITSKAYA. What do you mean by that?

    SONIA. [Imploringly] Mother! Uncle Vanya! I entreat you!

    VOITSKI. I am silent. I apologise and am silent. [A pause.]

    HELENA. What a fine day! Not too hot. [A pause.]

    VOITSKI. A fine day to hang oneself.

    Chinese Simplified

    angry,,,

    awake,'96,

    blame,,,,,

    ,

    blind,,,,

    capable,,,

    changed

    conviction,,,

    dreary,

    entreat,

    fault,,,,

    ,,

    forgotten53

    hang,

    hardly,,

    illuminating

    lie147,14798,,147,121147

    mobile,,,

    pedantry

    personality,,

    settled

    silent,

    somehow

    speak121,55

    uncle,,,,

    ,

    winning,

    writer,,

    yourself

  • Anton Chekhov 13

    [TELEGIN tunes the guitar. MARINA appears near the house, calling the chickens.]

    MARINA. Chick, chick, chick!

    SONIA. What did the peasants want, nurse?

    MARINA. The same old thing, the same old nonsense. Chick, chick, chick!

    SONIA. Why are you calling the chickens?

    MARINA. The speckled hen has disappeared with her chicks. I am afraid the crows have got her.%

    [TELEGIN plays a polka. All listen in silence. Enter WORKMAN.]

    WORKMAN. Is the doctor here? [To ASTROFF] Excuse me, sir, but I have been sent to fetch you.

    ASTROFF. Where are you from?

    WORKMAN. The factory.

    ASTROFF. [Annoyed] Thank you. There is nothing for it, then, but to go. [Looking around him for his cap] Damn it, this is annoying!

    SONIA. Yes, it is too bad, really. You must come back to dinner from the factory.

    ASTROFF. No, I won't be able to do that. It will be too late. Now where, where-- [To the WORKMAN] Look here, my man, get me a glass of vodka, will you? [The

    Chinese Simplified

    afraid,,

    annoying,

    appears

    bad,,,,,

    cap,,,

    chick

    chickens

    dinner,

    disappeared'88,

    doctor,,,

    enter,,,

    factory,,

    fetch,,

    glass,

    guitar

    hen

    late,,,,

    listen,

    marina

    near,,,

    nonsense,98,98

    nurse,,

    peasants

    sent

    silence,,

    sir,

    tunes136

    vodka

  • Uncle Vanya 14

    WORKMAN goes out] Where--where-- [Finds his cap] One of the characters in Ostroff's plays is a man with a long moustache and short wits, like me. However, let me bid you good-bye, ladies and gentlemen. [To HELENA] I should be really delighted if you would come to see me some day with Miss Sonia. My estate is small, but if you are interested in such things I should like to show you a nursery and seed-bed whose like you will not find within a thousand miles of here. My place is surrounded by government forests. The forester is old and always ailing, so I superintend almost all the work myself.%

    HELENA. I have always heard that you were very fond of the woods. Of course one can do a great deal of good by helping to preserve them, but does not that work interfere with your real calling?

    ASTROFF. God alone knows what a man's real calling is.

    HELENA. And do you find it interesting?

    ASTROFF. Yes, very.

    VOITSKI. [Sarcastically] Oh, extremely!

    HELENA. You are still young, not over thirty-six or seven, I should say, and I suspect that the woods do not interest you as much as you say they do. I should think you would find them monotonous.

    SONIA. No, the work is thrilling. Dr. Astroff watches over the old woods and sets out new plantations every year, and he has already received a diploma and a bronze medal. If you will listen to what he can tell you, you will agree with him entirely. He says that forests are the ornaments of the earth, that they

    Chinese Simplified

    agree

    bid,,,

    bronze

    characters,

    deal

    delighted

    diploma

    entirely,

    extremely,,,

    ,,,,,

    ,

    fond

    forester

    forests

    good-bye

    heard'88

    helping,,

    interested,

    interfere,,

    ladies

    medal

    monotonous136,136

    nursery,

    ornaments67

    plantations

    preserve,,,

    sets'53

    short,,,

    superintend,

    suspect,,

    thousand

    thrilling

    wits

  • Anton Chekhov 15

    teach mankind to understand beauty and attune his mind to lofty sentiments. Forests temper a stern climate, and in countries where the climate is milder, less strength is wasted in the battle with nature, and the people are kind and gentle. The inhabitants of such countries are handsome, tractable, sensitive, graceful in speech and gesture. Their philosophy is joyous, art and science blossom among them, their treatment of women is full of exquisite nobility---

    VOITSKI. [Laughing] Bravo! Bravo! All that is very pretty, but it is also unconvincing. So, my friend [To ASTROFF] you must let me go on burning firewood in my stoves and building my sheds of planks.%

    ASTROFF. You can burn peat in your stoves and build your sheds of stone. Oh, I don't object, of course, to cutting wood from necessity, but why destroy the forests? The woods of Russia are trembling under the blows of the axe. Millions of trees have perished. The homes of the wild animals and birds have been desolated; the rivers are shrinking, and many beautiful landscapes are gone forever. And why? Because men are too lazy and stupid to stoop down and pick up their fuel from the ground. [To HELENA] Am I not right, Madame? Who but a stupid barbarian could burn so much beauty in his stove and destroy that which he cannot make? Man is endowed with reason and the power to create, so that he may increase that which has been given him, but until now he has not created, but demolished. The forests are disappearing, the rivers are running dry, the game is exterminated, the climate is spoiled, and the earth becomes poorer and uglier every day. [To VOITSKI] I read irony in your eye; you do not take what I am saying seriously, and--and--after all, it may very well be nonsense. But when I pass peasant-forests that I have preserved from the axe, or hear the rustling of the young plantations set out with my own hands, I feel as if I had had some small share in improving the climate, and that if mankind is happy a thousand years from now I will have been a little bit responsible for their

    Chinese Simplified

    axe,,

    barbarian

    blossom,,

    blows

    burn,,,

    cannot,,,,

    ,

    destroy,,,

    disappearing

    exquisite,,55,

    firewood

    forever,

    gesture,,

    graceful,,,

    inhabitants

    irony66,114

    joyous,,

    lofty,,,

    mankind,

    millions

    necessity,,,

    peat

    rivers,

    stern,,

    stoop,

    stove,,

    temper,

    tractable

    trembling,

    unconvincing

  • Uncle Vanya 16

    happiness. When I plant a little birch tree and then see it budding into young green and swaying in the wind, my heart swells with pride and I--[Sees the WORKMAN, who is bringing him a glass of vodka on a tray] however--[He drinks] I must be off. Probably it is all nonsense, anyway. Good-bye. [He goes toward the house. SONIA takes his arm and goes with him.]

    SONIA. When are you coming to see us again?

    ASTROFF. I can't say.%

    SONIA. In a month?

    [ASTROFF and SONIA go into the house. HELENA and VOITSKI walk over to the terrace.]

    HELENA. You have behaved shockingly again. Ivan, what sense was there in teasing your mother and talking about _perpetuum mobile?_ And at breakfast you quarreled with Alexander again. Really, your behaviour is too petty.

    VOITSKI. But if I hate him?

    HELENA. You hate Alexander without reason; he is like every one else, and no worse than you are.

    VOITSKI. If you could only see your face, your gestures! Oh, how tedious your life must be.

    HELENA. It is tedious, yes, and dreary! You all abuse my husband and look on me with compassion; you think, "Poor woman, she is married to an old man." How well I understand your compassion! As Astroff said just now, see how you thoughtlessly destroy the forests, so that there will soon be none left. So you

    Chinese Simplified

    abuse,,,

    anyway63,

    arm,,,,,

    ,,

    behaved

    behaviour,

    birch,,

    breakfast,,

    bringing

    coming,

    compassion

    green,,,,

    hate,,,

    heart,,,,

    married,

    month,

    none,

    petty,,

    plant,,,,

    quarreled

    reason,,,,

    ,

    soon,,,,,

    ,

    swaying

    swells

    toward

    tray,

    tree

    understand,,,

    wind,,,

  • Anton Chekhov 17

    also destroy mankind, and soon fidelity and purity and self-sacrifice will have vanished with the woods. Why cannot you look calmly at a woman unless she is yours? Because, the doctor was right, you are all possessed by a devil of destruction; you have no mercy on the woods or the birds or on women or on one another.%

    VOITSKI. I don't like your philosophy.

    HELENA. That doctor has a sensitive, weary face--an interesting face. Sonia evidently likes him, and she is in love with him, and I can understand it. This is the third time he has been here since I have come, and I have not had a real talk with him yet or made much of him. He thinks I am disagreeable. Do you know, Ivan, the reason you and I are such friends? I think it is because we are both lonely and unfortunate. Yes, unfortunate. Don't look at me in that way, I don't like it.

    VOITSKI. How can I look at you otherwise when I love you? You are my joy, my life, and my youth. I know that my chances of being loved in return are infinitely small, do not exist, but I ask nothing of you. Only let me look at you, listen to your voice--

    HELENA. Hush, some one will overhear you.

    [They go toward the house.]

    VOITSKI. [Following her] Let me speak to you of my love, do not drive me away, and this alone will be my greatest happiness!

    HELENA. Ah! This is agony!

    [TELEGIN strikes the strings of his guitar and plays a polka. MME. VOITSKAYA writes something on the leaves of her pamphlet.]

    Chinese Simplified

    agony,,

    calmly

    chances

    destruction,,

    devil,,

    disagreeable,,

    drive,,,,

    ,

    exist,,

    greatest

    joy,,,

    leaves

    lonely,,

    mercy

    otherwise,,98,

    ,,

    overhear

    philosophy

    return,,,,

    ,,,,

    self-sacrifice

    sensitive,,75,

    strikes

    talk14198,,114,141

    thinks

    unfortunate,,

    unless

    weary,,

    writes

    yours

  • Uncle Vanya 18

    [The %curtain falls.]

    Chinese Simplified

    afternoon,

    avenue,3

    besides,,,,

    121,

    chairs

    cloudy

    drink,,,

    etc,,,,,

    ,,,,,

    front,,,,

    garden

    glass,

    guitar

    hammock

    hot

    instead,

    knitting

    lying147

    marina

    pause,

    poplar,

    quiet,,,,

    ,

    samovar

    sitting,

    swung

    tea,

    terrace,,,

    trees

    vodka

    walking,

  • Anton Chekhov 19

    A C T I I

    [The%dining-room of SEREBRAKOFF'S house. It is night. The tapping of the WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden. SEREBRAKOFF is dozing in an arm-chair by an open window and HELENA is sitting beside him, also half asleep.]

    SEREBRAKOFF. [Rousing himself] Who is here? Is it you, Sonia?

    HELENA. It is I.

    SEREBRAKOFF. Oh, it is you, Nelly. This pain is intolerable.

    HELENA. Your shawl has slipped down. [She wraps up his legs in the shawl] Let me shut the window.

    SEREBRAKOFF. No, leave it open; I am suffocating. I dreamt just now that my left leg belonged to some one else, and it hurt so that I woke. I don't believe this is gout, it is more like rheumatism. What time is it?

    Chinese Simplified

    beside

    dozing

    garden

    gout

    heard'88

    hurt,

    intolerable,

    leave,,,

    leg,

    pain,,,

    rattle,

    rheumatism,

    shawl

    shut

    sitting,

    slipped

    tapping

    window,,,

    woke'96

    wraps

  • Uncle Vanya 20

    HELENA. Half past twelve. [A pause.]

    SEREBRAKOFF. I want you to look for Batushka's works in the library to-morrow. I think we have him.%

    HELENA. What is that?

    SEREBRAKOFF. Look for Batushka to-morrow morning; we used to have him, I remember. Why do I find it so hard to breathe?

    HELENA. You are tired; this is the second night you have had no sleep.

    SEREBRAKOFF. They say that Turgenieff got angina of the heart from gout. I am afraid I am getting angina too. Oh, damn this horrible, accursed old age! Ever since I have been old I have been hateful to myself, and I am sure, hateful to you all as well.

    HELENA. You speak as if we were to blame for your being old.

    SEREBRAKOFF. I am more hateful to you than to any one.

    HELENA gets up and walks away from him, sitting down at a distance.

    SEREBRAKOFF. You are quite right, of course. I am not an idiot; I can understand you. You are young and healthy and beautiful, and longing for life, and I am an old dotard, almost a dead man already. Don't I know it? Of course I see that it is foolish for me to live so long, but wait! I shall soon set you all free. My life cannot drag on much longer.

    Chinese Simplified

    accursed

    afraid,,

    angina,

    blame,,,,,

    ,

    breathe

    cannot,,,,

    ,

    course131,,,,

    ,,

    damn,

    distance

    drag,,,

    foolish

    gout

    hard,,,,,

    hateful,,

    healthy,

    horrible,

    idiot,,

    longer

    longing,

    myself

    remember53,53

    sitting,

    sleep,'96,,

    sure

    tired,,

    twelve

    wait,,

    walks

    works,,

  • Anton Chekhov 21

    HELENA. You are overtaxing my powers of endurance. Be quiet, for God's sake!

    SEREBRAKOFF. It appears that, thanks to me, everybody's power of endurance is being overtaxed; everybody is miserable, only I am blissfully triumphant. Oh, yes, of course!

    HELENA. Be quiet! You are torturing me.%

    SEREBRAKOFF. I torture everybody. Of course.

    HELENA. [Weeping] This is unbearable! Tell me, what is it you want me to do?

    SEREBRAKOFF. Nothing.

    HELENA. Then be quiet, please.

    SEREBRAKOFF. It is funny that everybody listens to Ivan and his old idiot of a mother, but the moment I open my lips you all begin to feel ill-treated. You can't even stand the sound of my voice. Even if I am hateful, even if I am a selfish tyrant, haven't I the right to be one at my age? Haven't I deserved it? Haven't I, I ask you, the right to be respected, now that I am old?

    HELENA. No one is disputing your rights. [The window slams in the wind] The wind is rising, I must shut the window. [She shuts it] We shall have rain in a moment. Your rights have never been questioned by anybody.

    [The WATCHMAN in the garden sounds his rattle.]

    SEREBRAKOFF. I have spent my life working in the interests of learning. I am used to my

    Chinese Simplified

    anybody

    ask,103

    begin,,,,

    deserved

    disputing63

    endurance

    funny

    hateful,,

    interests

    learning,,

    listens

    miserable,,,

    please124,

    powers,

    rain,

    rights

    rising,,

    sake

    selfish,,

    shuts

    sound,

    sounds

    spent

    stand,,,,,

    ,

    thanks,7,,7,7

    torture,,

    torturing

    triumphant

    tyrant

    unbearable,

  • Uncle Vanya 22

    library and the lecture hall and to the esteem and admiration of my colleagues. Now I suddenly find myself plunged in this wilderness, condemned to see the same stupid people from morning till night and listen to their futile conversation. I want to live; I long for success and fame and the stir of the world, and here I am in exile! Oh, it is dreadful to spend every moment grieving for the lost past, to see the success of others and sit here with nothing to do but to fear death. I cannot stand it! It is more than I can bear. And you will not even forgive me for being old!

    HELENA. Wait, have patience; I shall he old myself in four or five years.%

    [SONIA comes in.]

    SONIA. Father, you sent for Dr. Astroff, and now when he comes you refuse to see him. It is not nice to give a man so much trouble for nothing.

    SEREBRAKOFF. What do I care about your Astroff? He understands medicine about as well as I understand astronomy.

    SONIA. We can't send for the whole medical faculty, can we, to treat your gout?

    SEREBRAKOFF. I won't talk to that madman!

    SONIA. Do as you please. It's all the same to me. [She sits down.]

    SEREBRAKOFF. What time is it?

    HELENA. One o'clock.

    SEREBRAKOFF. It is stifling in here. Sonia, hand me that bottle on the table.

    Chinese Simplified

    admiration,

    astronomy,

    bear,,,,,

    ,,

    bottle,

    colleagues

    conversation14198,98

    dreadful,

    esteem

    exile,

    faculty,,,

    fame23,23

    fear,,,,

    forgive,,138,,

    futile,

    hall,,,

    lecture,55131,55

    madman,

    medical7

    medicine7,7,,7,

    7,7

    nice19,,,

    patience,,,

    refuse

    sit

    stifling,

    stir,,

    treat

    trouble,,

    understands

    wilderness,

  • Anton Chekhov 23

    SONIA. Here it is. [She hands him a bottle of medicine.]

    SEREBRAKOFF. [Crossly] No, not that one! Can't you understand me? Can't I ask you to do a thing?

    SONIA. Please don't be captious with me. Some people may like it, but you must spare me, if you please, because I don't. Besides, I haven't the time; we are cutting the hay to-morrow and I must get up early.%

    [VOITSKI comes in dressed in a long gown and carrying a candle.]

    VOITSKI. A thunderstorm is coming up. [The lightning flashes] There it is! Go to bed, Helena and Sonia. I have come to take your place.

    SEREBRAKOFF. [Frightened] No, n o, no! Don't leave me alone with him! Oh, don't. He will begin to lecture me.

    VOITSKI. But you must give them a little rest. They have not slept for two nights.

    SEREBRAKOFF. Then let them go to bed, but you go away too! Thank you. I implore you to go. For the sake of our former friendship do not protest against going. We will talk some other time---

    VOITSKI. Our former friendship! Our former---

    SONIA. Hush, Uncle Vanya!

    SEREBRAKOFF. [To his wife] My darling, don't leave me alone with him. He will begin to lecture me.

    Chinese Simplified

    alone,,,

    bed,

    begin,,,,

    besides,,,,

    121,

    bottle,

    captious

    carrying,

    comes

    coming,

    cutting,,

    darling,,,,

    friendship143,143

    gown,'53

    hands

    hay,

    implore,

    lecture,55131,55

    lightning

    n

    please124,

    protest51

    rest,,

    sake

    slept

    spare,

    talk14198,,114,141

    thank,7,,7,7

    thunderstorm

    understand,,,

  • Uncle Vanya 24

    VOITSKI. This is ridiculous.%

    [MARINA comes in carrying a candle.]

    SONIA. You must go to bed, nurse, it is late.

    MARINA. I haven't cleared away the tea things. Can't go to bed yet.

    SEREBRAKOFF. No one can go to bed. They are all worn out, only I enjoy perfect happiness.

    MARINA. [Goes up to SEREBRAKOFF and speaks tenderly] What's the matter, master? Does it hurt? My own legs are aching too, oh, so badly. [Arranges his shawl about his legs] You have had this illness such a long time. Sonia's dead mother used to stay awake with you too, and wear herself out for you. She loved you dearly. [A pause] Old people want to be pitied as much as young ones, but nobody cares about them somehow. [She kisses SEREBRAKOFF'S shoulder] Come, master, let me give you some linden-tea and warm your poor feet for you. I shall pray to God for you.

    SEREBRAKOFF. [Touched] Let us go, Marina.

    MARINA. My own feet are aching so badly, oh, so badly! [She and SONIA lead SEREBRAKOFF out] Sonia' s mother used to wear herself out with sorrow and weeping. You were still little and foolish then, Sonia. Come, come, master.

    [SEREBRAKOFF, SONIA and MARINA go out.]

    HELENA. I am absolutely exhausted by him, and can hardly stand.

    Chinese Simplified

    absolutely,,

    ,

    aching,,

    arranges

    badly

    dearly

    enjoy,,

    exhausted,

    feet

    foolish

    herself

    illness,,

    kisses

    lead,,,,

    marina

    master,,,,

    ,,

    matter,,,

    nobody,

    perfect,,,

    98121,

    pitied

    poor,,,,,

    ,,

    pray

    shawl

    shoulder,,

    sorrow,

    warm,,,,

    wear,

    weeping

    worn

  • Anton Chekhov 25

    VOITSKI. You are exhausted by him, and I am exhausted by my own self. I have not slept for three nights.%

    HELENA. Something is wrong in this house. Your mother hates everything but her pamphlets and the professor; the professor is vexed, he won't trust me, and fears you; Sonia is angry with her father, and with me, and hasn't spoken to me for two weeks; I am at the end of my strength, and have come near bursting into tears at least twenty times to-day. Something is wrong in this house.

    VOITSKI. Leave speculating alone.

    HELENA. You are cultured and intelligent, Ivan, and you surely understand that the world is not destroyed by villains and conflagrations, but by hate and malice and all this spiteful tattling. It is your duty to make peace, and not to growl at everything.

    VOITSKI. Help me first to make peace with myself. My darling! [Seizes her hand.]

    HELENA. Let go! [She drags her hand away] Go away!

    VOITSKI. Soon the rain will be over, and all nature will sigh and awake refreshed. Only I am not refreshed by the storm. Day and night the thought haunts me like a fiend, that my life is lost for ever. My past does not count, because I frittered it away on trifles, and the present has so terribly miscarried! What shall I do with my life and my love? What is to become of them? This wonderful feeling of mine will be wasted and lost as a ray of sunlight is lost that falls into a dark chasm, and my life will go with it.

    Chinese Simplified

    chasm,,

    count38,,38,,

    41

    cultured,,,

    dark,,

    duty,,,,

    falls

    fiend

    growl

    intelligent,,,

    ,,

    least,,

    malice

    mine,,,

    ray,,

    refreshed

    seizes

    self,,,

    sigh,

    speculating

    spiteful

    storm,,

    strength,,,,

    ,,

    sunlight,

    surely,,

    tattling141

    tears,,

    terribly,

    trifles

    vexed,

  • Uncle Vanya 26

    HELENA. I am as it were benumbed when you speak to me of your love, and I don't know how to answer you. Forgive me, I have nothing to say to you. [She tries to go out] Good-night!

    VOITSKI. [Barring the way] If you only knew how I am tortured by the thought that beside me in this house is another life that is being lost forever--it is yours! What are you waiting for? What accursed philosophy stands in your way? Oh, understand, understand---

    HELENA. [Looking at him intently] Ivan, you are drunk!

    VOITSKI. Perhaps. Perhaps.%

    HELENA. Where is the doctor?

    VOITSKI. In there, spending the night with me. Perhaps I am drunk, perhaps I am; nothing is impossible.

    HELENA. Have you just been drinking together? Why do you do that?

    VOITSKI. Because in that way I get a taste of life. Let me do it, Helena!

    HELENA. You never used to drink, and you never used to talk so much. Go to bed, I am tired of you.

    VOITSKI. [Falling on his knees before her] My sweetheart. my beautiful one---

    HELENA. [Angrily] Leave me alone! Really, this has become too disagreeable.

    Chinese Simplified

    accursed

    alone,,,

    answer,,,,

    ,,,,

    beautiful,,,,

    ,,,'89

    bed,

    beside

    disagreeable,,

    doctor,,,

    drink,,,

    drinking

    drunk,

    forgive,,138,,

    impossible,

    intently,,

    knees

    lost

    philosophy

    speak121,55

    sweetheart

    talk14198,,114,141

    taste,,,

    tired,,

    understand,,,

    waiting,

    yours

  • Anton Chekhov 27

    [HELENA%goes out. A pause.]

    VOITSKI [Alone] She is gone! I met her first ten years ago, at her sister's house, when she was seventeen and I was thirty-seven. Why did I not fall in love with her then and propose to her? It would have been so easy! And now she would have been my wife. Yes, we would both have been waked to-night by the thunderstorm, and she would have been frightened, but I would have held her in my arms and whispered: "Don't be afraid! I am here." Oh, enchanting dream, so sweet that I laugh to think of it. [He laughs] But my God! My head reels! Why am I so old? Why won't she understand me? I hate all that rhetoric of hers, that morality of indolence, that absurd talk about the destruction of the world--- [A pause] Oh, how I have been deceived! For years I have worshipped that miserable gout-ridden professor. Sonia and I have squeezed this estate dry for his sake. We have bartered our butter and curds and peas like misers, and have never kept a morsel for ourselves, so that we could scrape enough pennies together to send to him. I was proud of him and of his learning; I received all his words and writings as inspired, and now? Now he has retired, and what is the total of his life? A blank! He is absolutely unknown, and his fame has burst like a soap-bubble. I have been deceived; I see that now, basely deceived.

    ASTROFF comes in. He has his coat on, but is without his waistcoat or collar, and is slightly drunk. TELEGIN follows him, carrying a guitar.

    ASTROFF. Play!

    TELEGIN. But every one is asleep.

    ASTROFF. Play!

    TELEGIN begins to play softly.

    ASTROFF. Are you alone here? No women about? [Sings with his arms akimbo.]

    Chinese Simplified

    absurdQ2,,,

    ,Q2,

    basely

    blank,,

    burst,,,

    butter,

    coat,

    collar,

    curds

    dream,'88,,

    dry,,,,

    frightened

    hers

    indolence,

    laugh

    laughs

    morality

    ourselves,

    peas

    propose51,,51,

    proud,,,

    rhetoric,114

    scrape,

    seventeen

    sings

    softly,

    sweet,,

    unknown,,,

    '88,

    waistcoat

    whispered114

    writings,

  • Uncle Vanya 28

    "The hut is cold, the fire is dead; Where shall the master lay his head?" The thunderstorm woke me. It was a heavy shower. What time is it?

    VOITSKI. The devil only knows.%

    ASTROFF. I thought I heard Helena's voice.

    VOITSKI. She was here a moment ago.

    ASTROFF. What a beautiful woman! [Looking at the medicine bottles on the table] Medicine, is it? What a variety we have; prescriptions from Moscow, from Kharkoff, from Tula! Why, he has been pestering all the towns of Russia with his gout! Is he ill, or simply shamming?

    VOITSKI. He is really ill.

    ASTROFF. What is the matter with you to-night? You seem sad. Is it because you are sorry for the professor?

    VOITSKI. Leave me alone.

    ASTROFF. Or in love with the professor's wife?

    VOITSKI. She is my friend.

    ASTROFF. Already?

    VOITSKI. What do you mean by "already"?

    Chinese Simplified

    alone,,,

    beautiful,,,,

    ,,,'89

    cold,,,,

    devil,,

    fire,,,,,

    friend,,

    gout

    heard'88

    heavy,,,,

    hut,

    ill,,,,

    lay,,,

    master,,,,

    ,,

    matter,,,

    medicine7,7,,7,

    7,7

    professor

    sad,,,,,

    ,

    seem,,,

    shower,

    simply,,,,

    ,,,

    sorry,

    thunderstorm

    variety,,,

    wife,,,,

    ,

    woke'96

  • Anton Chekhov 29

    ASTROFF. A woman can only become a man's friend after having first been his acquaintance and then his beloved--then she becomes his friend.%

    VOITSKI. What vulgar philosophy!

    ASTROFF. What do you mean? Yes, I must confess I am getting vulgar, but then, you see, I am drunk. I usually only drink like this once a month. At such times my audacity and temerity know no bounds. I feel capable of anything. I attempt the most difficult operations and do them magnificently. The most brilliant plans for the future take shape in my head. I am no longer a poor fool of a doctor, but mankind's greatest benefactor. I evolve my own system of philosophy and all of you seem to crawl at my feet like so many insects or microbes. [To TELEGIN] Play, Waffles!

    TELEGIN. My dear boy, I would with all my heart, but do listen to reason; everybody in the house is asleep.

    ASTROFF. Play!

    TELEGIN plays softly.

    ASTROFF. I want a drink. Come, we still have some brandy left. And then, as soon as it is day, you will come home with me. [He sees SONIA, who comes in at that moment.]

    ASTROFF. I beg your pardon, I have no collar on.

    [He goes out quickly, followed by TELEGIN.

    SONIA. Uncle Vanya, you and the doctor have been drinking! The good fellows have

    Chinese Simplified

    acquaintance75,,,

    75

    asleep,

    attempt

    becomes

    beg,,

    benefactor,

    bounds

    boy,,,

    brandy

    collar,

    confess,41,41

    crawl,

    dear,,

    drinking

    drunk,

    evolve,

    fool,,,,

    future,,,,

    ,

    microbes

    operations

    pardon,,138,,

    quickly,,

    shape,,,,

    ,,,

    softly,

    usually,,,,

    vulgar,,,,

    ,

  • Uncle Vanya 30

    been getting together! It is all very well for him, he has always done it, but why do you follow his example? It looks dreadfully at your age.%

    VOITSKI. Age has nothing to do with it. When real life is wanting one must create an illusion. It is better than nothing.

    SONIA. Our hay is all cut and rotting in these daily rains, and here you are busy creating illusions! You have given up the farm altogether. I have done all the work alone until I am at the end of my strength--[Frightened] Uncle! Your eyes are full of tears!

    VOITSKI. Tears? Nonsense, there are no tears in my eyes. You looked at me then just as your dead mother used to, my darling--[He eagerly kisses her face and hands] My sister, my dearest sister, where are you now? Ah, if you only knew, if you only knew!

    SONIA. If she only knew what, Uncle?

    VOITSKI. My heart is bursting. It is awful. No matter, though. I must go. [He goes out.]

    SONIA. [Knocks at the door] Dr. Astroff! Are you awake? Please come here for a minute.

    ASTROFF. [Behind the door] In a moment.

    [He appears in a few seconds. He has put on his collar and waistcoat.]

    ASTROFF. What do you want?

    Chinese Simplified

    ah,

    altogether,

    awake,'96,

    awful,

    bursting

    busy,,,,

    collar,

    create,,

    cut,,,,,,

    ,

    dreadfully

    eagerly,,,

    example,,,70,

    ,,,,,

    ,

    farm,

    few,

    follow,,,,

    hay,

    illusion,,

    illusions

    kisses

    looks,,,

    minute,107,,,

    nonsense,98,98

    rains,

    seconds

    sister

    wanting,

  • Anton Chekhov 31

    SONIA. Drink as much as you please yourself if you don't find it revolting, but I implore you not to let my uncle do it. It is bad for him.%

    ASTROFF. Very well; we won't drink any more. I am going home at once. That is settled. It will be dawn by the time the horses are harnessed.

    SONIA. It is still raining; wait till morning.

    ASTROFF. The storm is blowing over. This is only the edge of it. I must go. And please don't ask me to come and see your father any more. I tell him he has gout, and he says it is rheumatism. I tell him to lie down, and he sits up. To-day he refused to see me at all.

    SONIA. He has been spoilt. [She looks in the sideboard] Won't you have a bite to eat?

    ASTROFF. Yes, please. I believe I will.

    SONIA. I love to eat at night. I am sure we shall find something in here. They say that he has made a great many conquests in his life, and that the women have spoiled him. Here is some cheese for you.

    [They stand eating by the sideboard.]

    ASTROFF. I haven't eaten anything to-day. Your father has a very difficult nature. [He takes a bottle out of the sideboard] May I? [He pours himself a glass of vodka] We are alone here, and I can speak frankly. Do you know, I could not stand living in this house for even a month? This atmosphere would stifle me. There is your father, entirely absorbed in his books, and his gout; there is your Uncle Vanya with his hypochondria, your grandmother, and finally, your step-mother--

    Chinese Simplified

    absorbed

    atmosphere,,,

    ,,,

    bite,,

    blowing

    books,,,

    cheese,,,

    dawn

    eat

    eaten

    eating

    edge,,,,

    finally,,,,

    frankly,95,

    gout

    grandmother,

    implore,

    living

    nature,,,,

    ,,

    raining

    revolting,

    rheumatism,

    settled

    sideboard

    sits

    stifle

    storm,,

    till

    uncle,,,,

    ,

    vodka

  • Uncle Vanya 32

    SONIA. What about her?

    ASTROFF. A human being should be entirely beautiful: the face, the clothes, the mind, the thoughts. Your step-mother is, of course, beautiful to look at, but don't you see? She does nothing but sleep and eat and walk and bewitch us, and that is all. She has no responsibilities, everything is done for her--am I not right? And an idle life can never be a pure one. [A pause] However, I may be judging her too severely. Like your Uncle Vanya, I am discontented, and so we are both grumblers.%

    SONIA. Aren't you satisfied with life?

    ASTROFF. I like life as life, but I hate and despise it in a little Russian country village, and as far as my own personal life goes, by heaven! there is absolutely no redeeming feature about it. Haven't you noticed if you are riding through a dark wood at night and see a little light shining ahead, how you forget your fatigue and the darkness and the sharp twigs that whip your face? I work, that you know--as no one else in the country works. Fate beats me on without rest; at times I suffer unendurably and I see no light ahead. I have no hope; I do not like people. It is long since I have loved any one.

    SONIA. You love no one?

    ASTROFF. Not a soul. I only feel a sort of tenderness for your old nurse for old-times' sake. The peasants are all alike; they are stupid and live in dirt, and the educated people are hard to get along with. One gets tired of them. All our good friends are petty and shallow and see no farther than their own noses; in one word, they are dull. Those that have brains are hysterical, devoured with a mania for self-analysis. They whine, they hate, they pick faults everywhere with unhealthy sharpness. They sneak up to me sideways, look

    Chinese Simplified

    alike

    beatsC

    bewitch53,,,

    brains,,,,

    darkness

    despise'93,'93,,,

    '93,

    discontented

    dull,,,,

    ,

    educated

    everywhere,,,

    farther,

    fate

    fatigue

    faults

    hysterical,

    mania

    responsibilities

    satisfied,,

    severely,

    shallow,,,

    sharpness

    shining,

    sneak,

    suffer,,,,

    tenderness,

    unhealthy,

    whine

    whip,,

  • Anton Chekhov 33

    at%me out of a corner of the eye, and say: "That man is a lunatic," "That man is a wind-bag." Or, if they don't know what else to label me with, they say I am strange. I like the woods; that is strange. I don't eat meat; that is strange, too. Simple, natural relations between man and man or man and nature do not exist. [He tries to go out; SONIA prevents him.]

    SONIA. I beg you, I implore you, not to drink any more!

    ASTROFF. Why not?

    SONIA. It is so unworthy of you. You are well-bred, your voice is sweet, you are even--more than any one I know--handsome. Why do you want to resemble the common people that drink and play cards? Oh, don't, I beg you! You always say that people do not create anything, but only destroy what heaven has given them. Why, oh, why, do you destroy yourself? Oh, don't, I implore you not to! I entreat you!

    ASTROFF. [Gives her his hand] I won't drink any more.

    SONIA. Promise me.

    ASTROFF. I give you my word of honour.

    SONIA. [Squeezing his hand] Thank you.

    ASTROFF. I have done with it. You see, I am perfectly sober again, and so I shall stay till the end of my life. [He looks his watch] But, as I was saying, life holds nothing for me; my race is run. I am old, I am tired, I am trivial; my sensibilities are dead. I could never attach myself to any one again. I love no one, and never shall! Beauty alone has the power to touch me still. I am

    Chinese Simplified

    attach,,

    beg,,

    common,,,,

    '91,,,,,

    corner,,,,

    destroy,,,

    entreat,

    heaven,,

    honour23,,23

    implore,

    label,

    meat

    natural,,,

    perfectly,

    play,,,,,

    ,,,,,

    race,,

    relations

    resemble,

    saying,121

    simple,,,,

    sober,

    sweet,,

    tired,,

    touch,,,,,

    trivial,,

    unworthy,,

    watch'89,,'93

    woods,

    word,82,82,

  • Uncle Vanya 34

    deeply moved by it. Helena could turn my head in a day if she wanted to, but that is not love, that is not affection--

    [He shudders and covers his face with his hands.]

    SONIA. What is it?

    ASTROFF. Nothing. During Lent one of my patients died under chloroform.%

    SONIA. It is time to forget that. [A pause] Tell me, doctor, if I had a friend or a younger sister, and if you knew that she, well--loved you, what would you do?

    ASTROFF. [Shrugging his shoulders] I don't know. I don't think I should do anything. I should make her understand that I could not return her love--however, my mind is not bothered about those things now. I must start at once if I am ever to get off. Good-bye, my dear girl. At this rate we shall stand here talking till morning. [He shakes hands with her] I shall go out through the sitting-room, because I am afraid your uncle might detain me. [He goes out.]

    SONIA. [Alone] Not a word! His heart and soul are still locked from me, and yet for some reason I am strangely happy. I wonder why? [She laughs with pleasure] I told him that he was well-bred and handsome and that his voice was sweet. Was that a mistake? I can still feel his voice vibrating in the air; it caresses me. [Wringing her hands] Oh! how terrible it is to be plain! I am plain, I know it. As I came out of church last Sunday I overheard a woman say, "She is a dear, noble girl, but what a pity she is so ugly!" So ugly!

    [HELENA comes in and throws open the window.]

    HELENA. The storm is over. What delicious air! [A pause] Where is the doctor?

    Chinese Simplified

    air,,

    covers

    deeply,

    delicious,,

    detain,,

    forget53,,

    girl,,

    good-bye

    handsome,,

    happy,,,,

    ,,,,,

    ,

    laughs

    mistake116,

    noble,,

    overheard

    pause,

    pity,,,

    plain

    pleasure,,

    rate,,,,,

    shakes

    shoulders,

    soul

    storm,,

    terrible,,

    turn,

    ugly,,,,

    vibrating

    wonder,

    younger

  • Anton Chekhov 35

    SONIA. He has gone. [A pause.]

    HELENA. Sonia!

    SONIA. Yes?

    HELENA. How much longer are you going to sulk at me? We have not hurt each other. Why not be friends? We have had enough of this.%

    SONIA. I myself--[She embraces HELENA] Let us make peace.

    HELENA. With all my heart. [They are both moved.]

    SONIA. Has papa gone to bed?

    HELENA. No, he is sitting up in the drawing-room. Heaven knows what reason you and I had for not speaking to each other for weeks. [Sees the open sideboard] Who left the sideboard open?

    SONIA. Dr. Astroff has just had supper.

    HELENA. There is some wine. Let us seal our friendship.

    SONIA. Yes, let us.

    HELENA. Out of one glass. [She fills a wine-glass] So, we are friends, are we?

    Chinese Simplified

    bed,

    embraces

    fills'53

    friendship143,143

    glass,

    gone

    heart,,,,

    heaven,,

    hurt,

    knows

    longer

    papa

    peace

    reason,,,,

    ,

    seal,,53,,70,

    ,,

    sideboard

    sitting,

    supper,

    wine,,,

  • Uncle Vanya 36

    SONIA. Yes. [They drink and kiss each other] I have long wanted to make friends, but somehow, I was ashamed to. [She weeps.]

    HELENA. Why are you crying?

    SONIA. I don't know. It is nothing.%

    HELENA. There, there, don't cry. [She weeps] Silly! Now I am crying too. [A pause] You are angry with me because I seem to have married your father for his money, but don't believe the gossip you hear. I swear to you I married him for love. I was fascinated by his fame and learning. I know now that it was not real love, but it seemed real at the time. I am innocent, and yet your clever, suspicious eyes have been punishing me for an imaginary crime ever since my marriage.

    SONIA. Peace, peace! Let us forget the past.

    HELENA. You must not look so at people. It is not becoming to you. You must trust people, or life becomes impossible.

    SONIA. Tell me truly, as a friend, are you happy?

    HELENA. Truly, no.

    SONIA. I knew it. One more question: do you wish your husband were young?

    HELENA. What a child you are! Of course I do. Go on, ask something else.

    Chinese Simplified

    angry,,,

    ashamed,,

    becomes

    clever,,,,

    ,,

    crime,

    cry,,,

    crying,,

    drink,,,

    fame23,23

    fascinated

    forget53,,

    gossip,98,141

    husband,,

    imaginary,

    impossible,

    innocent,,

    kiss,,,

    learning,,

    marriage,,

    married,

    pause,

    peace

    somehow

    suspicious,

    swear,

    truly,,

    trust,,,,

    wish,,,,,

  • Anton Chekhov 37

    SONIA. Do you like the doctor?

    HELENA. Yes, very much indeed.%

    SONIA. [Laughing] I have a stupid face, haven't I? He has just gone out, and his voice is still in my ears; I hear his step; I see his face in the dark window. Let me say all I have in my heart! But no, I cannot speak of it so loudly. I am ashamed. Come to my room and let me tell you there. I seem foolish to you, don't I? Talk to me of him.

    HELENA. What can I say?

    SONIA. He is clever. He can do everything. He can cure the sick, and plant woods.

    HELENA. It is not a question of medicine and woods, my dear, he is a man of genius. Do you know what that means? It means he is brave, profound, and of clear insight. He plants a tree and his mind travels a thousand years into the future, and he sees visions of the happiness of the human race. People like him are rare and should be loved. What if he does drink and act roughly at times? A man of genius cannot be a saint in Russia. There he lives, cut off from the world by cold and storm and endless roads of bottomless mud, surrounded by a rough people who are crushed by poverty and disease, his life one continuous struggle, with never a day's respite; how can a man live like that for forty years and keep himself sober and unspotted? [Kissing SONIA] I wish you happiness with all my heart; you deserve it. [She gets up] As for me, I am a worthless, futile woman. I have always been futile; in music, in love, in my husband's house--in a word, in everything. When you come to think of it, Sonia, I am really very, very unhappy. [Walks excitedly up and down] Happiness can never exist for me in this world. Never. Why do you laugh?

    Chinese Simplified

    brave,,

    continuous,,,

    cure,,7,,

    deserve

    disease,,

    ears

    endless,,

    excitedly

    forty

    genius

    insight,'8875,

    loudly,,

    mud,

    poverty

    profound,,,

    ,,,,,

    rare,,,

    ,'88

    respite

    roads

    rough,,,

    roughly,,,

    ,

    saint,

    step,,,,

    136,,,,

    struggle,,,

    travels

    unhappy

    visions'93

    worthlessa,,

  • Uncle Vanya 38

    SONIA. [Laughing and covering her face with her hands] I am so happy, so happy!

    HELENA. I want to hear music. I might play a little.%

    SONIA. Oh, do, do! [She embraces her] I could not possibly go to sleep now. Do play!

    HELENA. Yes, I will. Your father is still awake. Music irritates him when he is ill, but if he says I may, then I shall play a little. Go, Sonia, and ask him.

    SONIA. Very well.

    [She goes out. The WATCHMAN'S rattle is heard in the garden.]

    HELENA. It is long since I have heard music. And now, I shall sit and play, and weep like a fool. [Speaking out of the window] Is that you rattling out there, Ephim?

    VOICE OF THE WATCHMAN. It is I.

    HELENA. Don't make such a noise. Your master is ill.

    VOICE OF THE WATCHMAN. I am going away this minute. [Whistles a tune.]

    SONIA. [Comes back] He says, no.

    [The curtain falls.]

    Chinese Simplified

    ask,103

    awake,'96,

    covering,

    curtain

    embraces

    fool,,,,

    goes

    hands

    happy,,,,

    ,,,,,

    ,

    hear'88,,

    heard'88

    ill,,,,

    irritates

    master,,,,

    ,,

    minute,107,,,

    music,,

    noise,,,,

    play,,,,,

    ,,,,,

    possibly,

    rattle,

    sit

    sleep,'96,,

    weep

    whistles

    window,,,

  • Anton Chekhov 39

    A C T I I I

    [The%drawing-room of SEREBRAKOFF'S house. There are three doors: one to the right, one to the left, and one in the centre of the room. VOITSKI and SONIA are sitting down. HELENA is walking up and down, absorbed in thought.]

    VOITSKI. We were asked by the professor to be here at one o'clock. [Looks at his watch] It is now a quarter to one. It seems he has some communication to make to the world.

    HELENA. Probably a matter of business.

    VOITSKI. He never had any business. He writes twaddle, grumbles, and eats his heart out with jealousy; that's all he does.

    SONIA. [Reproachfully] Uncle!

    VOITSKI. All right. I beg your pardon. [He points to HELENA] Look at her. Wandering up and down from sheer idleness. A sweet picture, really.

    Chinese Simplified

    absorbed

    beg,,

    communication,,52,

    doors

    heart,,,,

    idleness,

    jealousy,

    looks,,,

    matter,,,

    pardon,,138,,

    picture,,,,

    ,,,,

    points

    professor

    quarter

    sheer,,

    sitting,

    sweet,,

    walking,

    wandering,,,

    watch'89,,'93

    writes

  • Uncle Vanya 40

    HELENA. I wonder you are not bored, droning on in the same key from morning till night. [Despairingly] I am dying of this tedium. What shall I do?

    SONIA. [Shrugging her shoulders] There is plenty to do if you would.%

    HELENA. For instance?

    SONIA. You could help run this place, teach the children, care for the sick--isn't that enough? Before you and papa came, Uncle Vanya and I used to go to market ourselves to deal in flour.

    HELENA. I don't know anything about such things, and besides, they don't interest me. It is only in novels that women go out and teach and heal the peasants; how can I suddenly begin to do it?

    SONIA. How can you live here and not do it? Wait awhile, you will get used to it all. [Embraces her] Don't be sad, dearest. [Laughing] You feel miserable and restless, and can't seem to fit into this life, and your restlessness is catching. Look at Uncle Vanya, he does nothing now but haunt you like a shadow, and I have left my work to-day to come here and talk with you. I am getting lazy, and don't want to go on with it. Dr. Astroff hardly ever used to come here; it was all we could do to persuade him to visit us once a month, and now he has abandoned his forestry and his practice, and comes every day. You must be a witch.

    VOITSKI. Why should you languish here? Come, my dearest, my beauty, be sensible! The blood of a Nixey runs in your veins. Oh, won't you let yourself be one? Give your nature the reins for once in your life; fall head over ears in love

    Chinese Simplified

    awhile

    blood,,

    bored,

    catching

    dying,,

    embraces

    fall,,,,,

    ,,

    flour,,

    forestry

    haunt

    heal,,

    instance,,

    key,,,,

    languish,,7,

    laughing,

    lazy,

    papa

    persuade121,121

    plenty,61

    practice,,,,

    ,,

    reins

    restless,

    runs

    sensible,,'96,

    '96

    shadow,,,

    teach,,55131

    tedium136

    veins,,

    visit,68,

    witch,

  • Anton Chekhov 41

    with some other water sprite and plunge down head first into a deep pool, so that the Herr Professor and all of us may have our hands free again.%

    HELENA. [Angrily] Leave me alone! How cruel you are! [She tries to go out.]

    VOITSKI. [Preventing her] There, there, my beauty, I apologise. [He kisses her hand] Forgive me.

    HELENA. Confess that you would try the patience of an angel.

    VOITSKI. As a peace offering I am going to fetch some flowers which I picked for you this morning: some autumn roses, beautiful, sorrowful roses. [He goes out.]

    SONIA. Autumn roses, beautiful, sorrowful roses!

    [She and HELENA stand looking out of the window.]

    HELENA. September already! How shall we live through the long winter here? [A pause] Where is the doctor?

    SONIA. He is writing in Uncle Vanya's room. I am glad Uncle Vanya has gone out, I want to talk to you about something.

    HELENA. About what?

    SONIA. About what?

    [She lays her head on HELENA'S breast.]

    HELENA. [Stroking her hair] There, there, that will do. Don't, Sonia.

    Chinese Simplified

    alone,,,

    angel,

    autumn,,

    beautiful,,,,

    ,,,'89

    beauty,,

    cruel,,,

    deep,,,,,

    ,

    doctor,,,

    fetch,,

    flowers

    glad,

    goes

    hair

    kisses

    live,,

    offering,

    patience,,,

    pause,

    peace

    picked

    plunge,

    pool,,,,,

    sorrowful,,,,

    stand,,,,,

    ,

    talk14198,,114,141

    winter,,

    writing,,,,

  • Uncle Vanya 42

    SONIA. I am ugly!

    HELENA. You have lovely hair.%

    SONIA. Don't say that! [She turns to look at herself in the glass] No, when a woman is ugly they always say she has beautiful hair or eyes. I have loved him now for six years, I have loved him more than one loves one's mother. I seem to hear him beside me every moment of the day. I feel the pressure of his hand on mine. If I look up, I seem to see him coming, and as you see, I run to you to talk of him. He is here every day now, but he never looks at me, he does not notice my presence. It is agony. I have absolutely no hope, no, no hope. Oh, my God! Give me strength to endure. I prayed all last night. I often go up to him and speak to him and look into his eyes. My pride is gone. I am not mistress of myself. Yesterday I told Uncle Vanya I couldn't control myself, and all the servants know it. Every one knows that I love him.

    HELENA. Does he?

    SONIA. No, he never notices me.

    HELENA. [Thoughtfully] He is a strange man. Listen, Sonia, will you allow me to speak to him? I shall be careful, only hint. [A pause] Really, to be in uncertainty all these years! Let me do it!

    [SONIA nods an affirmative.]

    HELENA. Splendid! It will be easy to find out whether he loves you or not. Don't be ashamed, sweetheart, don't worry. I shall be careful; he will not notice a thing. We only want to find out whether it is yes or no, don't we? [A pause] And if it is no, then he must keep away from here, is that so?

    Chinese Simplified

    absolutely,,

    ,

    agony,,

    allow61,61,

    ashamed,,

    beside

    careful,,,,

    ,,,,

    easy,,,,

    ,,,

    endure,,

    hint

    hope,,

    listen,

    lovely,

    loves,

    mine,,,

    mistress

    nods

    pause,

    presence,

    pressure

    pride,

    strange,,,,

    sweetheart

    ugly,,,,

    uncertaintyW,,

    W

    worry,,,,

    ,,,

    yesterday

  • Anton Chekhov 43

    [SONIA nods.]

    HELENA. It will be easier not to see him any more. We won't put off the examination an instant. He said he had a sketch to show me. Go and tell him at once that I want to see him.%

    SONIA. [In great excitement] Will you tell me the whole truth?

    HELENA. Of course I will. I am sure that no matter what it is, it will be easier for you to bear than this uncertainty. Trust to me, dearest.

    SONIA. Yes, yes. I shall say that you want to see his sketch. [She starts out, but stops near the door and looks back] No, it is better not to know--and yet--there may be hope.

    HELENA. What do you say?

    SONIA. Nothing. [She goes out.]

    HELENA. [Alone] There is no greater sorrow than to know another's secret when you cannot help them. [In deep thought] He is obviously not in love with her, but why shouldn't he marry her? She is not pretty, but she is so clever and pure and good, she would make a splendid wife for a country doctor of his years. [A pause] I can understand how the poor child feels. She lives here in this desperate loneliness with no one around her except these colourless shadows that go mooning about talking nonsense and knowing nothing except that they eat, drink, and sleep. Among them appears from time to time this Dr. Astroff, so different, so handsome, so interesting, so charming. It is like seeing the moon rise on a dark night. Oh, to surrender oneself to his embrace! To lose oneself in his arms! I am a little in love with him myself!

    Chinese Simplified

    arms,'53,,,

    ,,

    cannot,,,,

    ,

    charming,

    colourless

    desperate,

    easier

    embrace,,,,

    examination90,

    except,

    excitement,

    feels'96

    greater

    instant,,

    knowing,

    loneliness,

    lose,,,

    marry

    moon,,

    obviously,,'88

    pretty,,

    rise,,,,

    secret,

    seeing

    shadows

    sketch,,,,

    starts

    stops

    surrender

    truth,98

  • Uncle Vanya 44

    Yes, I am lonely without him, and when I think of him I smile. That Uncle Vanya says I have the blood of a Nixey in my veins: "Give rein to your nature for once in your life!" Perhaps it is right that I should. Oh, to be free as a bird, to fly away from all your sleepy faces and your talk and forget that you have existed at all! But I am a coward, I am afraid; my conscience torments me. He comes here every day now. I can guess why, and feel guilty already; I should like to fall on my knees at Sonia's feet and beg her forgiveness, and weep.%

    [ASTROFF comes in carrying a portfolio.]

    ASTROFF. How do you do? [Shakes hands with her] Do you want to see my sketch?

    HELENA. Yes, you promised to show me what you had been doing. Have you time now?

    ASTROFF. Of course I have!

    He lays the portfolio on the table, takes out the sketch and fastens it to the table with thumb-tacks.

    ASTROFF. Where were you born?

    HELENA. [Helping him] In St. Petersburg.

    ASTROFF. And educated?

    HELENA. At the Conservatory there.

    ASTROFF. You don't find this life very interesting, I dare say?

    Chinese Simplified

    afraid,,

    beg,,

    bird

    blood,,

    born,

    carrying,

    conscience

    coward,

    dare

    educated

    fall,,,,,

    ,,

    feet

    fly,,2,,,

    ,

    forget53,,

    forgiveness

    guess,,,1,,

    ,

    guilty,

    interesting,,,

    ,

    knees

    lonely,,

    portfolio

    rein,

    shakes

    sketch,,,,

    sleepy,

    smile,

    takes,

    veins,,

  • Anton Chekhov 45

    HELENA. Oh, why not? It is true I don't know the country very well, but I have read a great deal about it.%

    ASTROFF. I have my own desk there in Ivan's room. When I am absolutely too exhausted to go on I drop everything and rush over here to forget myself in this work for an hour or two. Ivan and Miss Sonia sit rattling at their counting-boards, the cricket chirps, and I sit beside them and paint, feeling warm and peaceful. But I don't permit myself this luxury very often, only once a month. [Pointing to the picture] Look there! That is a map of our country as it was fifty years ago. The green tints, both dark and light, represent forests. Half the map, as you see, is covered with it. Where the green is striped with red the forests were inhabited by elk and wild goats. Here on this lake, lived great flocks of swans and geese and ducks; as the old men say, there was a power of birds of every kind. Now they have vanished like a cloud. Beside the hamlets and villages, you see, I have dotted down here and there the various settlements, farms, hermit's caves, and water-mills. This country carried a great many cattle and horses, as you can see by the quantity of blue paint. For instance, see how thickly it lies in this part; there were great herds of them here, an average of three horses to every house. [A pause] Now, look lower down. This is the country as it was twenty-five years ago. Only a third of the map is green now with forests. There are no goats left and no elk. The blue paint is lighter, and so on, and so on. Now we come to the third part; our country as it appears to-day. We still see spots of green, but not much. The elk, the swans, the black-cock have disappeared. It is, on the whole, the picture of a regular and slow decline which it will evidently only take about ten or fifteen more years to complete. You may perhaps object that it is the march of progress, that the old order must give place to the new, and you might be right if roads had been run through these ruined woods, or if factories and schools had taken their place. The people then would have become better educated and healthier and richer, but as it is, we have nothing of the sort. We have the same swamps and mosquitoes; the

    Chinese Simplified

    cattle,

    cloud

    cricket

    decline,,,,

    desk,

    dotted

    ducks

    elk,

    factories

    farms

    fifteen

    geese

    inhabited

    lake,

    lies147

    lighter,,

    luxury,

    map

    paint,,,

    peaceful,,,'S,

    ,,

    permit61,61,61

    pointing,

    quantity,,,

    represent

    ruined,

    rush,

    striped,

    swamps

    swans

    tints

    villages

  • Uncle Vanya 46

    same disease and want; the typhoid, the diphtheria, the burning villages. We are confronted by the degradation of our country, brought on by the fierce struggle for existence of the human race. It is the consequence of the ignorance and unconsciousness of starving, shivering, sick humanity that, to save its children, instinctively snatches at everything that can warm it and still its hunger. So it destroys everything it can lay its hands on, without a thought for the morrow. And almost everything has gone, and nothing has been created to take its place. [Coldly] But I see by your face that I am not interesting you.%

    HELENA. I know so little about such things!

    ASTROFF. There is nothing to know. It simply isn't interesting, that's all.

    HELENA. Frankly, my thoughts were elsewhere. Forgive me! I want to submit you to a little examination, but I am embarrassed and don't know how to begin.

    ASTROFF. An examination?

    HELENA. Yes, but quite an innocent one. Sit down. [They sit down] It is about a certain young girl I know. Let us discuss it like honest people, like friends, and then forget what has passed between us, shall we?

    ASTROFF. Very well.

    HELENA. It is about my step-daughter, Sonia. Do you like her?

    ASTROFF. Yes, I respect her.

    HELENA. Do you like her--as a woman?

    Chinese Simplified

    brought

    consequence

    degradation,,

    diphtheria

    discuss45,141,4563,,

    141

    elsewhere

    embarrassed,

    everything,,

    ,

    existence

    fierce,,,,

    ,,

    forgive,,138,,

    honest95,,,,

    ,,95,,,

    human,,

    humanity,,

    hunger

    ignorance,

    innocent,,

    morrow,

    respect,,,

    saveC,C,,,,

    ,

    shivering

    snatches

    starving

    submit,

    thoughts,

    typhoid

  • Anton Chekhov 47

    ASTROFF. [Slowly] No.%

    HELENA. One more word, and that will be the last. You have not noticed anything?

    ASTROFF. No, nothing.

    HELENA. [Taking his hand] You do not love her. I see that in your eyes. She is suffering. You must realise that, and not come here any more.

    ASTROFF. My sun has set, yes, and then I haven't the time. [Shrugging his shoulders] Where shall I find time for such things? [He is embarrassed.

    HELENA. Bah! What an unpleasant conversation! I am as out of breath as if I had been running three miles uphill. Thank heaven, that is over! Now let us forget everything as if nothing had been said. You are sensible. You understand. [A pause] I am actually blushing.

    ASTROFF. If you had spoken a month ago I might perhaps have considered it, but now--[He shrugs his shoulders] Of course, if she is suffering--but I cannot understand why you had to put me through this examination. [He searches her face with his eyes, and shakes his finger at her] Oho, you are wily!

    HELENA. What does this mean?

    ASTROFF. [Laughing] You are a wily one! I admit that Sonia is suffering, but what does this examination of yours mean? [He prevents her from retorting, and goes on quickly] Please don't put on such a look of surprise; you know perfectly well why I come here every day. Yes, you know perfectly why and for whose

    Chinese Simplified

    admit,,41

    blushing,

    breath,,,

    cannot,,,,

    ,

    considered,40

    conversation14198,98

    embarrassed,

    examination90,

    finger,

    forget53,,

    goes

    heaven,,

    month,

    pause,

    perfectly,

    quickly,,

    realise

    retorting

    running

    searches

    sensible,,'96,

    '96

    shakes

    shoulders,

    spoken12198

    suffering,,

    sun,,

    surprise,,

    thank,7,,7,7

    unpleasant,

    wily

    yours

  • Uncle Vanya 48

    sake I come! Oh, my sweet tigress! don't look at me in that way; I am an old bird!

    HELENA. [Perplexed] A tigress? I don't understand you.%

    ASTROFF. Beautiful, sleek tigress, you must have your victims! For a whole month I have done nothing but seek you eagerly. I have thrown over everything for you, and you love to see it. Now then, I am sure you knew all this without putting me thr